On November 12, the President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo, announced that it was with great sadness the Nation of Ghana had to be advised that the 1st President of the 4th Republic, His Excellency Jerry John Rawlings had joined his ancestors. He died at The Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana after a very short illness.
The news hit me with great dismay and shock because I have been in regular touch with President Rawlings and knew him to be a person who enjoyed good health.
Only three weeks before, he had arranged and attended his Mother’s funeral.
Jerry Rawlings made an outstanding contribution to the Government of Ghana in two distinct eras. The first was when he twice took military action to remove the stench of corruption which he regarded as inimical to the foundation of accountability and good governance.
He eventually surrendered the reins of military rule to launch the National Democratic Party and was elected twice to serve as President of Ghana. His tenure served as a cornerstone for democracy in a modern state.
We in Jamaica will always remember him with great pride and affection. So many people from Western Africa were brought across the Atlantic against their will. When we took the decision to restore Emancipation Day as a separate holiday in its own right to celebrate the freedom of our people from slavery, he was our Guest of Honour.
Jerry Rawlings was an active partner in connecting the peoples of Africa and its descendants in the Caribbean. So too his deep commitment to champion the cause of the developing world is well known. He was a champion for the full liberation of Africa which has for so long been denied.
He was a militant Nationalist who fought relentlessly to preserve and promote the African identity. He was a strong Pan Africanist. In the Commonwealth, he was a powerful voice for small developing countries. In the international arena he will never be forgotten for plain speaking against imperialism. In every forum he championed the cause of upliftment for the people from the developing world.
The Republic of Ghana joined with the Caribbean in our struggle to abandon the inequities of a global system.
No one, irrespective of Party, can question the powerful leadership he gave to Ghana, his beloved country. He did not shirk from taking decisions which stirred controversy in a multi-party society once he perceived them to be essential for the advance of the country’s citizens.
As a mark of respect, Ghana has ordered seven days of national mourning from
Friday, November 13 to Friday, November 20. In addition to that, despite pending national elections, the President has declared a suspension of political campaigns, in honour of the memory of former President Rawlings, for a period of seven days. Those Presidential orders reflect the high esteem he earned in spite of the ideological differences in a plural democracy.
I have already spoken to Nana his wife and the four children and conveyed to them my regret and sympathy at the loss of her husband and their father.
His death will deprive me of a Brother and our University Centre of one who we had identified to engage in discharging our mandate. We will seek to build on the energy and dedication he provided in our quest for a better world where all humankind will treasure and share the abundant resources of Mother Earth.